Purged academics vow to back to university

A group of academics, who were dismissed from the Marmara University’s Faculty of Law with the most recent government decree, has vowed to back to the university during a farewell meeting on Tuesday.

A protest has been staged in front of the Haydarpaşa Campus of the Marmara University’s Faculty of Law against the purge of academics with the participation of their colleagues, students and graduates of the university. Beside of a large number of protesters, the Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputy Sezgin Tanrıkulu was also among the protesters.

Prof. Dr. İbrahim Kaboğlu, dismissed head of the Constitutional Law Department at Marmara University, Prof. Dr. Ceren Akçabay, academicians Can Yalçın Armutçuoğlu and Hülya Dinçer have also reacted against the recent purges targeting academicians.

330 academics from 48 universities were expelled from their posts by the Statutory Decree No. 686 dated Feb. 7, 2017. Six of the 23 academics from Marmara University were from the Faculty of Law. The academics have vowed to continue to protest and to make statements.

According to the decree, 4,464 people working in government service, including teachers, academics, police officers, soldiers, members of the judiciary and journalists, were purged from their jobs. A total of 7,316 academics have been purged in Turkey as part of a post-coup crackdown.

Over 135,000 people, including thousands within the military, have been purged due to their real or alleged connection to the Gülen movement since the coup attempt, according to a statement by the labor minister on Jan. 10. As of Feb. 1, 89,775 people were being held without charge, with an additional 43,885 in pre-trial detention due to their alleged links to the movement